How LLMs Transformed My Understanding of Value Creation

When I left the African continent for the first time to work in Europe, I carried with me nearly a decade of software engineering experience, a deep love for problem-solving, and a strong sense of purpose. I knew how to build. I knew how to debug. I knew how to deliver value — or at least, I thought I did.

But in the past year, that definition of "value" has shifted. Not just because of a new environment or career growth — but because of something more disruptive: Artificial Intelligence, particularly Large Language Models (LLMs).

LLMs have not just change how I work. They have changed how I think — about engineering, learning, and what it truly means to create value in various aspects of my life.

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⏰ The Wake-Up Call: When ChatGPT Replaced My Search Engines

Most modern-day engineers across different disciplines are not re-inventing the wheel. Like many software engineers in practice, I leaned on the collective brilliance of the developer community — tech blogs, GitHub gists, Stack Overflow threads. Knowing what to “Google” was a skill on its own. It was never about doing it alone, but about knowing where to look and how to adapt.

Then came LLMs!
Suddenly, the answers weren’t buried in 10-comment forums, that sometimes went on and still didn’t give you the answers to what you were trying to debug. The answers were instant, contextualised, and sometimes executable — in seconds. LLMs did, at lightning speed, what I many had spent years refining: searching, synthesising, adapting. And that has changed everything.

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🎯 From Execution to Strategic Impact

It didn’t feel threatening — just unfamiliar. At first, I didn’t fully grasp its capabilities or how much more powerful it was compared to a traditional Google search. But once I did, the opportunity became clear.

LLMs freed me from the minutiae of repetitive searches and boilerplate code. That freedom became space— space to move upstream in the problem-solving process.

I started spending less time hunting for syntax and more time:

• Designing resilient system architectures with long-term impact

• Focusing on the why, not just the how, behind every solution

• Mentoring early-career engineers on how to think strategically in an AI-assisted world

• Bridging the gap between code and customer, between implementation and business impact

The more I leaned in, the more I realised: My most valuable contributions weren’t in doing — but in thinking, guiding, and leading.

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🚀 What Makes Engineers Irreplaceable in the AI Era?

As LLMs and AI tools evolve, one question keeps coming up:

What skills will make me recession-proof in a world where machines write code?

Here’s what I believe sets engineers apart in this new era:

1. Systems Thinking

Go beyond feature delivery. Understand how everything fits — across the business, services, users, and ecosystems.

2. Business Acumen

Know how your work ties to customer value, revenue, and strategy. Engineers who think like product leaders stand out.

3. Economic & Political Awareness

AI is deeply intertwined with labour, regulation, and global power structures. Stay informed.

4. Critical Thinking & Curiosity

LLMs give you answers. But they hallucinate at times. You still need to ask better questions, spot gaps, and make judgements.

5. Human-Centred Communication

Can you translate complexity? Collaborate across disciplines? Lead with empathy? These are power skills.

6. Adaptability

Tech stacks will change. Roles will change. The skills that matter most? Curiosity, courage, and clarity.

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🤎 Why This Shift Is Deeply Personal

As an African woman in global tech, I’ve had to build both technical and emotional resilience both in the engineering industry and personal life. I’ve had the privilege of living a diverse life, that at times lacked and at times was filled with abundance — resources, support, understanding and more. A life story that I share on my personal blogs.

But out of the constraints came something powerful:
Grit. Resourcefulness. A deep inner compass.

This quote from Jensen Huang captures it beautifully:

“Greatness does not come out of intelligence, it comes from character.
Character is not formed out of smart people: it is formed out of people who have suffered.”

The character shaped in the margins — forged through hardship, persistence, and purpose — is now my biggest advantage.

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📣 To Engineers Everywhere: This Is Your Call to Evolve

To every engineer who wonders, “Am I being left behind?” — you’re not. You’re being invited to evolve.

Engineering is not becoming obsolete. It’s being redefined.

You’re not competing against AI. You’re learning to build with it. To lead through it. To expand your impact because of it.

Here’s your roadmap:

• Stay curious

• Learn business skills — tax, global investments, finance and value-creation

• Follow global trends — that’s were the AI race is happening, global leaders wanting to win the race and attract talent to win with

• Use the tools — but don’t become the tools

• Build character alongside code — invest in understanding yourself as an individual fully and the power that lies in your God-given intelligence and uniqueness. Embrace the not-so-shiny bits about you as the reflect an opportunity for evolution as the world around us evolves too.

Because in a world where intelligence is accessible to all, character is your competitive edge.

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🧱 Let’s Build with Clarity, Context, and Courage

We’re not just adapting.
We’re shaping the future.

Let’s lead it — together. 👩🏿‍💻✨